The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has reversed its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening and education.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has reversed its decision to cut Planned Parenthood funding for breast cancer screening and education.

"We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities," the foundation, which funds breast cancer education and research, announced in a blog post on Friday morning.

"It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down, and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women."

The foundation said it had originally cut the funding "to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation," but added, "We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair."

The foundation has faced a storm of criticism since it announced on Tuesday that it would cut off most of the funding it provides to Planned Parenthood for breast health education and screening, as well as for referrals for mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies.

The move was widely seen as an attack on Planned Parenthood's support for legal abortion. It was met with outrage from women's groups, liberal politicians, and public health advocates, and applauded by conservative groups and religious groups that oppose abortion and have been uneasy in the past supporting the Komen foundation.

Komen's funding of Planned Parenthood activities was set between $500,000 and $700,000 in 2011.

Within 24 hours of Komen's announcement that it was cutting off funding, Planned Parenthood collected more than $400,000 in online donations from more than 6,000 donors.

On Tuesday, the Amy and Lee Fikes' Foundation, run by the CEO of a Texas oil company, promised $250,000, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg matched that grant on Wednesday out of his own pocket.

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